Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Require Driving School? Yes or No?

[Michael James (cavallino_rapante]

This is a non-starter on so many levels.....
 
The fact that Ferrari/Porsche/Lambo/Merc/etc. have been in a horsepower war to 
one-up each other in the performance category is so old-news, I think the last 
time we talked about it was before anyone had heard of Monica Lewinski.  The 
sports cars of 'today' have far-exceeded the driving capabilities of 'Joe 
Average Sixpack'.  If they didn't, we wouldn't WANT them in the first place - 
the market is responding to the demands of their consumers and the automotive 
press, who all want to be seen driving a car that raised the performance "bar" 
set by their peers/competitors.  I don't see anything wrong with this, but I 
have a big problem with people who are blindingly naive to these machines - do 
we really hand 16-year-olds the keys to brand-new, 600-HP Vipers as graduation 
presents?  Do we really toss the wife the keys to our Ferraris and hope they 
come back alive?  I don't think we can 'legislate' common-sense.  You either 
have it, or you're dead.  
 
If people aren't given the freedom to buy more horsepower than they can handle, 
then they build it - a-la the Hot Rod.  You can't stop it, you just move the 
Horsepower War from the showroom to the garage, where anything goes.
 
M
 


--- On Thu, 2/12/09, Red5hilser [at] aol.com <Red5hilser [at] aol.com> wrote:


From: Red5hilser [at] aol.com <Red5hilser [at] aol.com>
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Require Driving School? Yes or No?
To: "Michael" <Cavallino_Rapante [at] yahoo.com>
Cc: Staxwax [at] aol.com, ItsmeMrWright [at] aol.com, SMagTX [at] aol.com, 
Rexnbutchie [at] aol.com, "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Date: Thursday, February 12, 2009, 5:54 PM


To add fuel to the ZR 1 'drivers school required before purchase' theory,  my 
old boss at the Her-Ex just bought a spanking brand new one of an authorized  
dealer's showroom floor in Fla, and didn't need to show anything more than 
proof  of insurance, a valid FDL, and the means that he had to pay for it. 
Your  
witness?

Yer pal, Ferrari Bubba


In a message dated 2/12/2009 4:23:51 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
Red5hilser [at] aol.com writes:

Hey  Gang: Let's get serious here. Do you think that any car company would   
forgo the sale, and hefty profit from a high-performance vehicle   merely 
because 
the buyer hadn't attended a driving school? LMFAO! What  they  care about is 
the bottom line. Period.

As long as the  buyer signs on the doted line, that should release the  
seller 
of all  performance related mishaps. 

Since I've been buying weapons, and I've  purchased scores in the  60-odd 
years that I've been shooting, not  once have I been asked to show proof  
that I 
ever attended a firearms  school of any kind. They just don't  care.

And we won't even get  into purchasing that 512 BB from a private party.  
That's just  another can of worms.

Case closed? Yer pal, Ferrari  Bubba



In a message dated 2/12/2009 3:50:42 P.M. Central  Standard Time,  
fellippe.galletta [at] gmail.com writes:

On  Thu,  Feb 12, 2009 at 3:52 PM, Steve Cook  <stevec [at] cheatcodes.com>  
wrote:

> Here's a rhetorical  question I thought of after my first  _unintentional_
> power  oversteer in the  355.
>
>
>
> Yesterday  afternoon, midway through a  left hand turn, I put on a bit too
>  much power and the backend broke  loose. I caught it easily and  corrected
> without a problem (even with a  grin on my face). But  that's because I've
> gone through numerous  Driving Schools,  auto-crossed for many years and
> did a couple SCCA  open-wheel  races.
>
>
>
> I thought, gee, I hope that   doesn't happen to my wife if she's midway
> through a corner, she  would  have lost it and spun.  It doesn't take much
> to get  the back end  loose without traction  control.
>
>
>
> That's where  my question came  from - what about all the inexperienced
> drivers  buying  super/high-performance vehicles with little or no
> experience   driving them - (like pro-footballers in the UK ;).  Cars  are
>  getting more and more powerful, and there's only so much a  computer  can
> do to control your traction at   100+mph.
>
>
>
> So now, the question: Should  Ferrari  _REQUIRE_ new buyers to take high
> performance driving  lessons before  selling them a supercar?
>
>
>
>  I think yes, unless  the buyer can show necessary skills, they  should
> require buyers to  take performance driving lessons.  Although they would
> legally need to  say it's not responsible for  giving them
>  over-confidence...
>
>
>
>  Discuss...
>
>  -steve


Great topic....surprised  this hasn't come up  before.

I think either a special upgraded  license could be sought, or  maybe some
kind of "test" given either by  the manufacturer or some  sanctioned racing
group. Somehow, someway  there would need to be evidence  that the driver is
"minimally  competent" at certain driving  exercises.

I use the term  "minimally competent" because that's the term  licensing
boards use to  judge whether those who pass licensing exams in  engineering
(and I'm  assuming medicine, legal, as well etc.) are good  enough to a  
degree
to merit being a practitioner of that profession. So if  you  pass the exam,
you are minimally competent, but by no means are you   necessarily a full
fledged authority who can do no wrong. ;)

If  you  made it too hard in either case, you won't get any practitioners  of
these  professions, and on the automotive side, no exotics could be  sold.

I've  always pushed for the US to have a driver's licensing  program as
stringent  as that of Germany but it just seems like that  will never fly in
this  country because it would infringe on the  freedoms of so many, lol.  If
anything, maybe a "super license" could  be created.

I could have  sworn I thought I heard that Chevrolet  was supposed to require
attendance  of a high performance driving  school for those who buy the new
ZR1? If you  can't require the skills  outright, then at least attending the
class is  making some  progress.

Make it required, and part of the cost of the  car.  There, problem solved for
now.   :)

FG
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